The Way of the Viking
by bluethunder25
Summary: An Astird fanfic. Part 1 of a 5 part series. Astrid, feeling a need to improve herself as a viking, sets out on a journey far beyond the village of Burk.


Far away, across the oceans lived the isle of Burk. A cold island inhabited by a proud race of vikings. For generations, the vikings of Burk had been at war with the dragons; slaying any that would dare come to their island. But then things changed when a young viking named Hiccup befriended a dragon and named it Toothless. With courage and resolve, Hiccup convinced his viking brethren to make peace with the dragons and thus, the vikings and dragon lived together in peace and harmony.

For a while, life with the dragons was wonderful. They worked together, played together and if trouble came, they were ready to protect Burk.

While all this seemed nice, there was a particular viking who thought otherwise.

* * *

It was typical day in Burk. The little vikings were playing with the young dragons.

Meanwhile, Fishlegs was feeding his pal, Meatlug a ton of fish as always.

As what had come to be usual, the dragons and vikings on Burk were living a normal, peaceful life.

Elsewhere, Hiccup and Toothless were out on their usual run, soaring through the sky and performing flips and dives and even some loop-de-loops.

"OK, Toothless, let's try that one we've been practiticing," said Hiccup. "Ready?"

Toothless nodded and with that, did a spiral, followed by a sideways dive. Hiccup then rolled onto Toothless' tail upon which Toothless launched him into the air and then landed on Toothless' nose and balanced himself on it.

"Good job, boy," said Hiccup. Suddenly, something came to his mind. "I wonder where Astrid is?"

* * *

Deep in the forests of Burk, Astrid was busy practicing with her axe. She had spent most of her time here ever since the viking had made peace with the dragons. Her practicing consisted of chopping away at the tree, practicing her swings, her chops and combat fighting.

The more Astrid practiced, the more she felt herself getting better. But even though her skill were improving, something was missing.

Just then, Astrid heard a small sound. It seemed like a squeak, but then it started to get louder and to surround her. She couldn't tell from what direction it was coming from. Suddenly, there was a cracking sound that came from the nearby tree. It sounded like something was rustling. With her axe in hand, she slowly tiptoed over to the tree, tightly and firmly gripping the handle of her axe, ready to strike whatever was lurking. She backed herself to a nearby tree. With a look a determination in her blue eyes, crept closer and closer to her destination. As she came closer, she lifted her axe high above her head, jumped forward and prepared to strike when it was revealed that the creature was merely a mouse.

A look of disapointment came across Astrid's face. She had hoped for something much bigger or more dangerous, not a mouse.

As dawn approached, Astrid continued practicing. However, a feeling of frustration had come upon her. It was actually frustration that had been building in her for some time. Frustration that for a while, she had kept hidden from her fellow vikings.

What had really come of Astrid and the vikings? It wasn't that she wasn't happy that there was peace between them and the dragons, but she was growing tired of swinging at trees and air. Tired of thinking there was something dangerous for her to fight, only for it to be a mouse or a twig or something else. She a while now, she longed for her axe to taste the flesh of someone or something.

In the wee hours of dawn, the constant practicing had made Astrid tired and she figured it was time to go home.

* * *

Back at home, Astrid sat in her bed, contemplating her thoughts. She let out a sigh of exhasperation, thinking mainly about what she was doing with her life.

She was barely able to eat her dinner and right now, she was unable to sleep. Each night, the same thought kept creeping into her mind over and over again, the same frustration eating away at, more painful than anything a dragon's teeth could do.

As she stared up at the ceiling, the images of the great vikings of the past popped into her head. She thought about the accomplishments each one had achieved, each one strong, tough, fierce, brave and noble. She knew she had the potential to be the same as them, but she also knew she wouldn't be able to if she stayed here.

* * *

The next day, everyone in Burk was going about their business. Meanwhile, Astrid looked on, sitting atop a mountain, sharpening her axe with a stone. Just then, she was approached by her friend, Stormfly.

Astrid didn't notice her until she came close. "Oh, hey girl," Astrid said as she petted her pet dragon. "Stormfly, can I ask you something? Am I a good viking?"

Stormfly just stared, not knowing exactly what Astrid meant by her question.

Astrid continued. "I mean to tell you the truth, I'm not sure. I just feel so...empty."

Astrid stared down onto Burk, looking at the other vikings, specifically the adult ones. She then thought about her training with Gobber, a man who had more than his fair share of tough wars and encounters; the limbs he had lost while fighting. To a viking, to lose a body part in war was like an honor. She could only dream of recieving such an honor.

Just then, Astrid and Stormfly were approached by Hiccup and Toothless.

Hiccup jumped off of Toothless and came towards Astrid. "Hey Astrid, Stormfly. You girls wanna go flying?" Hiccup asked.

"No thanks," said Astrid.

Hiccup could just barely read the depression in Astrid's eyes. "Astrid are you OK?" he asked.

Astrid let out a sigh and turned her back to Hiccup. "Yeah, I'm fine. I mean I'm always fine around here," she said.

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked.

Growing frustrated, Astrid quickly turned to Hiccup and presented her axe to him. "Hiccup, take a look at this. What is this?" she asked firmly.

"Uh...an axe?" Hiccup answered.

"Very good...now what do you notice about it? You only get one guess so make it count," Astrid said.

Trying to figure out just what eaxctly there was to notice about the axe, Hiccup took a good and careful look at it. He didn't notice anything different about it. He then tried feeling it, caressing his hand on the handle up to the blade which cut him in the finger.

"Oh, it's more sharp than usual. I see you've been sharpening it well," Hiccup said.

Angry at his answer, Astrid responded with a hard punch on Hiccup's shoulder. "No! There's no blood on it!" she shouted.

Hiccup was confused. "Excuse me?" he asked before Astrid grabbed him by the chest and dragged him to the village.

Toothless and Stormfly just stared at the two confused.

"I think you ripped out my two chest hairs," said Hiccup after Astrid let him go.

"Hiccup, I. Want. To. Fight," said Astrid.

"I'm not much of a fighter," said Hiccup.

"Not you, I wanna fight creatures, people, monsters, anything," Astrid shouted. "Every since we made peace with the dragons, all I've been doing is chopping tree bark!"

"But Astrid, don't you like living with the dragons and Stormfly?" Hiccup asked.

"Yes I do, but I'm a viking, a warrior, meant to fight and as you can see, there's nothing to fight," said Astrid.

"There's more to being a viking than just fighting," said Hiccup who was met with a glare from Astrid. "OK, maybe there isn't."

"You just don't understand," Astrid said with a sigh before she walked away from Hiccup, depressed, with her head down and her axe drooping in her hand.

* * *

In the afternoon, Astrid once again went back to the forest and trained some more. She threw every inch of her frustration and fury into each of her swings rapidly and relentlessly. Her intense shots left deep marks in the trees.

"When am I gonna get a real challenge!" she shouted to herself. "When, when, when, when, when, when, when, when, when?"

The intense training had tired her out for a bit, but she couldn't much worry about how pooped out she was. As Astrid stared down at the ground with her hands on her knees and the sweat dripping off her face, she gritted her teeth with frustration. She wondered how long this was gonna go on. How long would she have to spend her time just callessly living in peace? How long would it be before her axe tasted the flesh of something?

On her knees, Astrid violently pounded her fist into the ground multiple times. It was getting to be too much for her now.

* * *

It was now late at night and all the vikings of Burk were asleep.

Unbeknown to her parents, Astrid took a pound full of fish and mutton and wrapped it all in a bag. As she made her way out of her house with her bag, she tiptoed so not to wake her parents.

Once outside, she went to Stormfly who was sleeping. "Hey girl, wake up," she whispered. "Wake up!" she whispered louder.

With Stormfly awoke, Astird took her bag of food and walked her over near the ocean.

Astrid and Stormfly looked out to the ocean, Astrid with more resolve. As she stared, she saw the limitless distance of the ocean as a symbol of the limitless possibilities that stood in front of her. She knew she could be a great viking, but there was no way of her knowing if she stayed home. Whatever awaited her out there in the world she as ready to face it with Stormfly at her side.

Astrid with her bag hopped into Stormfly's back. She turned around and took one last look at her home, for it would be the last time she would see it for a while.

"Well, here we go, Stormfly," Astrid said. "Let's go."

With that, Astrid took off on Stormfly, away from Burk and onward to new adventures.

* * *

The next morning, Hiccup, Snoutlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut were walking through the villiage.

Suddenly, Ruffnut sneezed which caused snot to hang from her nose. However, she was able to sniff it back into her nose and even taste it, which didn't really bother her.

Just then, a rather distressed Fishlegs rushed to the gang. "Guys, guys! Astrid is gone!" he said.

"What?" Hiccup, Snoutlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut shouted.

Fishlegs handed Hiccup a note that Astrid had left on her door.

The note read,

_"Dear Mom, Dad and everyone of Burk,_

_I'm going away for a while. Don't worry about me, I've got Stormfly with me, though I don't know when I'll be back. I don't mean to worry you, but this is something I have to do. I need to prove to myself that I can be a good viking and right now, there's nothing for me here. When I come back, I'll be stronger and better than I was before._

_P.S. Don't come after me,_

_Astrid"_

Hiccup was shocked by this, but at the same time, he wasn't. He figured that Astrid was probably gonna do something like this after the talk that he she had.

"So now what?" asked Tuffnut.

"What do you mean what?" Snoutlout snapped. "We have to go after her!"

"No," Hiccup said.

"What?" Snoutlout said.

"We have to respect Astrid's wishes. It's what she wants," said Hiccup. "I'm not happy about it, but I think this might be the best thing for her to do.

"But Astrid's never been so far outside of Burk!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "There could be monsters, creatures, dragons and all kinds of dangers out there!"

"I think that's what she's counting on," Hiccup said.

"So what? We just stand here and let her get hurt and even worse, killed?" Ruffnut said.

The thoughts of Astrid being in danger and possibly getting killed seeped into Hiccup's mind and tortured him from the inside. He found himself conflicted. Part of him was telling him to go, but another part of him wanted to respect her wishes and stay. It was hard, but eventually he knew the right thing to do was stay; at least to Astrid it was; as he walked away.

Snoutlout, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Fishlegs eyed each other and then Hiccup. While it seemed Hiccup had made up his mind, the rest of them were still weary. But if Hiccup believed they should leave Astrid alone, then so be it.

Tuffnut, Ruffnut, and Fishlegs walked off, but Snoutlout stayed behind and looked out to the ocean. "Astrid...be careful," he said.


End file.
